midnight hole.

 

A sweet swimming spot, back with some old friends, made some new friends, all in the idyllic North Carolina mountains.

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big rocks and a road trip.

Well,  I'm already on the road.  Currently sitting in the morning light, on the westside of Providence, Rhode Island.  I love Rhode Island.  After living in Asheville, this was the first place that I embarked on nesting, completely alone.  I came up here without knowing anyone, how to get or around the city, or what to expect, and after a few tough, lonely weeks,  I began to encounter all sorts of magic.  Since I was so new to New England, everything felt so intimate, like I was a child discovering everything for the first time.  Coming back here, it brings back all of those warm feelings.  I stopped by and gazed at the top floor of the little green house (this was the outside )I used to live in,  have been getting wispy upon seeing the parks I used to dwell in, and all sorts of nostalgia when walking into the bakery I used to spend most of my time.  Most importantly, I have been visiting the people I met who still live here.  After seeing a childhood friend in Boston,  a friend I met in Asheville in Cambridge, and then the Providence friends - I'm reminded of the ways I've changed, the different ways I've connected with people.  I have a special, appreciative feeling for everyone I've met, and it feels good to take the time to see them.

Anyway, these are some photos from a stream in Vermont, with the current friends.  The stream curves and then there are large rocks that jut out or emerge from the stream.  They're the perfect size for jumping off.  Hopefully will be putting up road trip photos soon!

the jacuzzi

You have to walk on train tracks to get there.  The jacuzzi is a local swimming hole where the rocks dip in just the right way where you can sit in a hollowed out area and the water will pour through the cracks - just like jacuzzi jets!  However, with all the rain we've  been having, our tub was a bit flooded.  The day was still lovely for rock jumps and swimming against the current to sand islands, then letting the water carry you back.  It's nearly impossible to be unhappy while playing around at the swimming holes with all the green mountains surrounding you, and I've found that my friends and I are always in our best moods when we're together at these rocky waters.

the best of: june edition

Happy July 1st! And even though I'm not there - Canada day!  Here are a few of my favorite moments from my last bit of time there (and Washington too).  Like, I mean, remember this pie?

And when I would be washing dishes and look up to see the silly cat had nested herself inside a cake box.  She's pregnant by the way!  It's crazy to think one day soon I may come home from class to tiny little baby cats waiting for me!

Hannah and I's sweet early morning breakfast at Fol Epi before work.  She made a green smoothie and we shared a caramelized onion and bacon quiche - so good.

Impromptu picnics outside of my place.

When my neighbors would hang laundry up outside of my place and the setting sun would shine through it in just the right way.  Also that I had access to all those green things growing!

Silly photo shoots on the Washington state ferries with my sister.

This cupcake.

victoria breakfast.

 I would be woken up early, early in the morn, and bike over with Alex, having the silly, delirious conversations that can only happen when you've just woken up.  We would wind through different neighborhoods and across bridges where the Cascade mountains spread on the other side of the water, and then up a decent hill that made being met with coffee and breakfast even more appreciated.

Sophie is a breakfast extraordinaire.  While I was busy sleeping she would be up, preparing huevos rancheros, sweet potato hashbrowns, mango salsa, baked oatmeal with warm berries, and the list goes.  

It was amazing to come over for breakfast and immediately feel like I was home, even though I was so far away.  And, after eating food from the road these last few days, I've already begun to miss sharing meals with these sweet people.

a few more...

It's raining here in Nelson, BC.  I've been sipping my coffee and watching the clouds envelop the mountain peaks, silver wisps floating just above the lake.  This greyscale of mist and cloud and fog are what I'll miss most about British Columbia, they give all the shades of green a depth that quiets and softens, I don't think I'll know a landscape that is quite so humbling.

And Nelson is just the wonder that I remember - a small mountain gem of a town, not too big and not too small - complete with two sweet food coops, the friendliest people and a setting that there aren't really words for.  I've only been here 14 hours and I've already had multiple in-depth conversations with the locals. While I was settling down last night the thought popped in my head, "I want to settle here one day."  But, who's to say what will happen.

Anyway, here are a few more photos from last weekend's trip to Washington.  I'll post crossing-Canada-road-trip footage as soon as I can!

the last, vashon island.

I lose track of the date and time - the days blow by so quickly, my mind has hardly caught up to the long summer days approaching, that before I know it, my old life will resume in Vermont, everything abruptly the same, with all the magical moments from Victoria, like a dream, floating in the background.  But time is catching up and here we are, mid-June and my last time in Washington with my sweet sister-friend Melissa, before all my eyes see are the road ahead.  After doing our usual marinating in coffee shops and breakfast places we decided we go on a bicycle excursion and, blindly pointing our fingers on a map, we decided: Vashon Island.  

And what a great decision - it was so fun to bike onto the ferry and have really no idea what the destination is.  We were met with a long and gradual hill to bike into town, hard work, but the payoff being a view of wooden island homes with sweet window boxes, and groups of does grazing in the front yard.  Sunday evening means that Vashon Island is quiet, but we did manage to find Snapdragon, the most charming rustic bakery, to rest and share dinner, and, I mean, chocolate cupcakes.

And you gotta take time to respectfully explore around the abandoned houses, especially when the overlook the water and hillside homes of Seattle, just beyond.

I'm going to miss this girl.